I rarely buy magazines these days apart from F1 Racing and the odd trashy celebrity magazine, however since re-joining WeightWatchers 2 months ago, I have been buying this monthly magazine.

While obviously it is geared towards people on the plan, really it is mostly like a general lifestyle magazine. It would help to be on WeightWatchers to appreciate this magazine fully, but you don't need to be, as it is not all about point-counting or information solely on WeightWatchers.

The magazine is made up of real-life stories of members' weight loss, health articles, make-up and clothing features, some reviews of eg. new books, and lots of healthy recipes based around a certain ingredient, season, or meal type.

In the current issue (March) there are lots of filling comfort food recipes, such as macaroni cheese, spaghetti carbonara, and chicken, leek and cider pie. I've made the carbonara already which was really tasty, and will be definitely trying out more. There are also recipes for Mothers' Day such as salmon scones, and recipes based around honey. The recipes are always simple to make, with ingredients that aren't too expensive. There is a recipe for apple crumble in this issue that uses spelt flour - personally I haven't used this before and am not even sure if my local supermarket stocks it, but this seems to be the only ingredient this month in any of the recipes featured that has an ingredient which is perhaps a little out of the ordinary. The recipes are always filling, every day meals - no boring salads or plain rice and fish here!

The March issue, as with all issues, features clothing and make-up articles. The clothes shown are always reasonably affordable and aimed at all sizes. The clothes in the magazine aren't really my thing, I'm a band t-shirt, biker jacket and Converse kind of girl, so the clothing featured isn't something I would ever buy. However it is good to show people what way they can wear certain clothes; for example there is an article on jeans and what types best suit your shape. This kind of thing is something I already know, but for people who perhaps are in a position to wear jeans for the first time in their life after having been obese or very overweight, this would be very beneficial.

The make-up articles are alright but really nothing you wouldn't find in any other women's magazine.

The best part of the magazine is real-life stories from WeightWatchers members, which are always accompanied by before and after photographs. Real life members are always the cover stars and they always look great - it shows what's possible. I really enjoy reading about people's weight loss journeys; it's very inspirational and if you read them in between meetings, it can help keep you motivated. In the current issue there is a story about a woman who has lost over 13 stones on WeightWatchers, which is an amazing achievement. Having lost 1 stone since December myself, and having about 2 stones left to lose, it shows me that I have relatively little to lose compared to most people on the plan, and that I have no excuse not to do it.

I feel that the magazine is targeted almost entirely at women - there are features on make-up, women's clothes and women's health. WeightWatchers run both mixed and men-only classes, not to mention having some male leaders. In fact in my class there are around 10 men in a class of 60 or so people. While the magazine has the odd male 'success story', there is very little to attract men to this magazine. I suppose WeightWatchers do have a problem - even if there were more male-friendly articles in it, would a man even go out of his way to purchase this? Personally I don't really think so. It's the same as that uber-cringeworthy WeightWatchers advert with Alesha Dixon; it too featured mostly women - some of the men in my class have lost over 7 stones so it shows that men do join and succeed at WeightWatchers, and therefore I think they should be represented more.

Overall I like this magazine. I do tend to flick through the health and clothes/beauty sections but there are recipes in every issue that I rip out to keep in a folder and make at a later stage. The recipes are great for giving me more ideas about what to cook, and show how flexible this healthy eating plan can be. If you only buy one women's magazine a month, thanks to the inclusion of clothes and beauty articles, you could do worse than this.

This magazine is £2.75 per issue which I feel is a very reasonable price for a monthly magazine, in comparison to some other monthly women's magazines.